Century of success for accountancy firm

One of Shropshire’s most high-profile accountancy firms is celebrating 100 years of business success.

Dyke Yaxley Chartered Accountants, is based in Brassey Road in Shrewsbury, and the company has reached its centenary year.

Managing director Marie Bramwell said: “We’re delighted to be celebrating 100 years in business. We’ve seen the company evolve over the years into the success it is today and the transformation is incredible. We now employ over 100 staff, with offices in Shrewsbury, Telford, and Cleveland Ohio, and we have a client base of over 3,000 clients.

“Many clients have been with us from the very start, and we’ve been in business for so long, that the next generation of families are taking over the running of those companies – just like generation after generation of directors have taken over at Dyke Yaxley.

“With so many changes over the years, from the first computers in the 1970s, the first mobile phones in the 1980s, and the launch of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, who knows where we will be in 2119 – we’re all very excited to see what the future holds for us all.”

Dyke Yaxley began life in 1919 when David Owen Dyke opened up for business in Claremont Street. He took on his first articled pupil Bertie Ruscoe, who became a partner when he qualified, and Dyke and Ruscoe was born.

The connection between Dyke and Ruscoe and another local firm, Yaxley Davies & Co, started in 1926, when Reginald Yaxley served articles with Dyke and Ruscoe and qualified as an incorporated accountant. Dyke and Ruscoe couldn’t keep him on after he qualified, so in 1932 he set up his own business, and took on his first articled pupil – Frank Davies – who eventually became a partner, and the firm took its name Yaxley Davies & Co.

The link between Dyke and Ruscoe and Yaxley Davies & Co grew even stronger in the late 1970s when both firms were looking to expand, but had both recognised they needed to provide a wider range of professional services.

They were both restricted by a lack of space, and so decided to search for a suitable property together which led to them finding Abbey House in Abbey Foregate. The firms merged in 1987 to create Dyke Yaxley. After more acquisitions and increasing staff numbers, the firm needed even more space and moved to its current location in Shrewsbury just over 17 years ago.

“We have seen such sweeping changes in the decades we’ve been in business, and we believe our commitment to delivering the very best customer service to all our clients is the key to our ongoing success,” said Marie.

Pictured: Dyke Yaxley managing director Marie Bramwell (front centre) with her fellow directors